LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) — Monday night’s board meeting lasted for more than four hours.
The majority of that time was spent reviewing recommendations from the district’s Budget Solutions Work Group. This community team was tasked with coming up with a plan to make up for the projected $16 million budget gap the district is facing this summer.
This was the first public meeting held since the completion of the workgroup meetings, where the board weighed in and asked questions about the 10 recommendations.“I know the question has come up time and time again: how did we get here?” District 1 board member Dr. Monica Mundy asked.
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A top recommendation from the work group was to take money from the projected $42 million contingency fund. However, Superintendent Dr. Demetrus Liggins told the group last week that the fund is a lot less than predicted, maybe as low as $15 million.“If I was a member of the Budget Solutions Work Group, I would be furious about the time I spent that was wasted, and then you wasted all of our time, talking about the contingency fund and what we can do without it,” said board member Amanda Ferguson while on the stand. “It doesn’t exist; they [the district] spent it already and then didn’t ask you (the board) for your approval.”…